Shireroth

Have a great time! We'll see you next week.

I'll be gone until Monday.I'm going camping in So-Cal with my family. Gryphon the Pure- Shirithian Elder - Dutch of Kildare - Minister of the Interior - High Priest of Apostrophe aka Grammar Fuhrer - Director of the Shirithian Census - Imperial Advisor -q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);

Peace!

Camping? Have fun... don't get eaten by bears.*Pause*There ARE bears in CA, right? I mean, if there's one on the state flag...

The state flag was a mistake, actually. It was meant to be a pear. (check snopes, it's true) Bill Dusch - Archon of SoloralismQuillan Fatebane, 65th Paladin, Lanys Tvy'l Server (EQ1)Quillan Umbarcotumo, 37th Paladin, Innothule Server (EQ2)Proud to be Apollonianvar txtList = new Array()txtList[txtList.length]="'Whoa! You're in...college now? You got...older! I guess that's what happens when time passes, but still...' - Scott Siskind";txtList[txtList.length]="'The Hindenburg Uncertainty Principle, by contrast states that before you get on a blimp, you can never be certain whether it's going to catch on fire or not' - Scott Siskind";txtList[txtList.length]="Why do I need some cheese?";txtList[txtList.length]="'me to. well almost, we have to worship the living god, Bill3000.' - Hubert";txtList[txtList.length]="'Y'know what? I am never going to get out of micronations. I think I need to be assassinated or something.' - Jason Steffke";txtList[txtList.length]="'Bill, you are STILL young and stupid.' - Jason Steffke, Control of Destiny 1";txtList[txtList.length]="I think we've gotta promote you. You now have slightly more diplomatic skills than a random rock. - Sirithil nos Feanor, to Bill Dusch";txtList[txtList.length]="'Wow. I'm this close to admitting you're no longer young and stupid.' - Scott Siskind, to Bill";txtList[txtList.length]="'ow! I've been thrwappen! Now I have a sudden urge to enter politics...' - Gryphon the Pure, after being hit by a shard of Pure Mischief";txtList[txtList.length]="'I could probably date Hypatia's Mom. Now THAT'S scary.' - Ryan Caruso"; j=parseInt(Math.random()*txtList.length);j=(isNaN(j))?0:j;document.write(txtList[j]);

*rolls eyes*They SHOULD have put something like earthquakes and high prices on there. That would describe them in a MUCH better way.

Yes, there are bears in California, in the forested areas only, I believe (especially in places like the Sierra Nevada Mts. on the eastern edge of the state). No, they will not (likely) eat you, but they'll gladly eat your food if you're out in a national park camping or otherwise in bear country, and they can be dangerous if you get too close.Ironically, the bear on the California state seal is a California grizzly bear, but I've heard they're extinct now. However, I think we still have other grizzly bears as well as other varieties running around. *throws grenade for the hell of it*BO0O0O0O0/\/\!!!!!!

Hypatia--the grizzly bear was eradicated from the state in the late 1800's. We have only black bears here now. The only grizzlies in California now are in zoos or wild animal parks. (Or perhaps on a Hollywood set.) There is not enough wild habitat left in California to sustain the range of grizzly bears. People barely tolerate the damage done by black bears breaking into cars to get at food. A truly dangerous, unpredictable predator like the grizzly would never be allowed to be reintroduced. (Note the panic that ensues whenever a mountain lion walks into a subdivision.)

Well, there was a story about a bobcat that got treed by a dog a couple months ago. People just don't seem to understand that *gasp* there are large predators roaming around, and suburban sprawl doesn't get rid of them automatically. Most of the sightings of mountain lions in subdivisions are on the edge of grasslands or woodlands anyway. *throws grenade for the hell of it*BO0O0O0O0/\/\!!!!!!

no problems with HUGE predators here, but that doesnt mean we dont have any. As in, we have way to many copperheads here. They're small and can be pretty harmless to those who know how to deal with them, but people are stupid, and more than one person has gotten killed trying to be brave...

Joe, Welcome back! It's good to see that you have returned safely. Congratulations to your cousin on his Ph.D. Sorry to hear about the lab flood. I, too, hope his research is safe. Hope you enjoy your driver education class.

I've sighted a few big dogs in my day. I wouldn't want to get in the way of one of those large predators...In any event, while I'm theoretically back from LoA, I'll probably be falling into the Summer slump that Shireroth so desperately deserves, having run non-stop for nearly two years straight now.Plus I've got drivers' education to deal with this week... which I should be sleeping in preparation for.P.S. I was camping on the beach, by the way. Doheney beach, South of LA. My cousin just got a Ph.D. in microbiology from UCLA. He was studying tuberculosis, and the night of graduation, his lab was flooded because someone set a fire in the floor above. Luckily his research seems to be safe.Lalalalaalasleep. Gryphon the Pure- Shirithian Elder - Dutch of Kildare - Minister of the Interior - High Priest of Apostrophe aka Grammar Fuhrer - Director of the Shirithian Census - Imperial Advisor -q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);Edited by: Gryphon the Pure at: 6/20/05 1:44

D.E. was a pain in the butt....

The actual learning-to-drive part, as in actually getting in a car, is pretty cool (if stressful). Sadly, as seems to be mandated in Maryland, I also had to attend classes in parallel with it, most of which were pretty boring and only marginally useful.Good luck, Joe.

Did you have to watch that AWFULL black and white video with the syrup that's supposed to be blood? *lmao*

Back in high school, back before the earth cooled, two of them were called "Blood Alley" and "Blood on the Highway." Are those two old things still shown?

Judging by today's class, it's pretty dull. The teacher realizes as well as we do that we're in it for the minutes requirement, not the instruction, so basically we just sit and read and every half hour or so he'll tell us about one of the seven times he got hit by a car or play an instructional video.The videos we see are more than ten years outdated, and the animation shows it. I could probably model most of it in a couple days and animate it in another. Most of the vocabulary in the "Physics of Driving" video is completely wrong, and they refer to friction in percentages rather than coefficients, which makes me curious what they consider "100% friction", since optimal driving conditions only get up to 80%.I think I might see if the DMV is willing to contract for new videos and I'll work up my animation sk33lx in the meanwhile.Lalala. No ugly bloody videos yet. Gryphon the Pure- Shirithian Elder - Dutch of Kildare - Minister of the Interior - High Priest of Apostrophe aka Grammar Fuhrer - Director of the Shirithian Census - Imperial Advisor -q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);q=parseInt(Math.random()*gryphSig.length);q=(isNaN(q))?0:q;document.write(gryphSig[q]);

Well, I *DO* live in NC. The government updates itself when it has to, aka, when South Carolina surpases them in technology. Heh.